How big is online dating? In one recent month, the major dating sites had more than 593 million visits in the United States according to an internet tracking firm. That's not dates. That's just people checking profiles, sending messages and stuff like that. There may be as many as 30 million people in the U.S. using inernet dating services, and a lot of the data they generate gets sold, in redacted versions, to researchers, so in the coming years we will know more than we ever have before about the whether or not you can find happiness with somebody who really thinks Adam Sandler is funny, if you don't.

In the meantime, the business itself may be changing as a new generation, much more accustomed to public sharing, comes on board with fewer demands for privacy and a deeper understanding of how relevant their Netflix habits are.